basketball tour launched from montezuma mesa

Playing overseas has brought former Aztec Slaughter an appreciation for the simple things in life

BAMBERG, Germany 
When Marcus Slaughter declared himself eligible for the 2006 NBA Draft after three years at San Diego State, he had no idea the scariest five minutes of his life would take place a year later on a Sunday night in Israel.

It was Slaughter’s second season playing basketball overseas after going undrafted and spending a season in the Turkish Basketball League. The 6-foot-9 forward was playing in the Israeli Super League for Hapoel Jerusalem in a televised game against Hapoel Holon.

“Some fan threw a stick of dynamite on the floor while we were playing. It wasn’t like a gunshot going off. It was like a bomb,” said Slaughter, who currently plays for Brose Baskets Bamberg in Germany’s premiere Beko Basketball Bundesliga (BBL).

“The whole gym rocked and vibrated from the explosion. In my head I’m thinking, ‘I’m in Israel and bombs are going off. Things are going down.’ ”

Slaughter is now in his sixth year abroad — from Turkey to Israel, France, Spain and Germany — and while the Riverside native and former first-team All-Mountain West Conference selection for the Aztecs never realized his NBA dream, he says his overseas basketball career has been the experience of a lifetime.

“The time goes by so fast. I feel like I’ve been here for a while and everyone keeps telling me that I am a veteran and I don’t feel like it because I’m only 26,” said Slaughter, who averaged 13.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game with Pinar Karsiyaka in Turkey during the 2006-07 season.

“My first year in Turkey opened my eyes to a different level of basketball.”

A fan favorite, Slaughter was selected to the Turkish All-Star Game and took home MVP honors that season. Disappointment crept in the following fall after Slaughter signed a two-year non-guaranteed contract with the Miami Heat in early October, only to be waived four weeks later.

“Miami was very good and I was comfortable,” Slaughter said. “I was ready to play, but come to find out it’s basically a business. Even my time with the Lakers in summer league after college went well, but I don’t think I was 100 percent ready at that time. It works out like that sometimes. It was disappointing, but it was also a life experience. At the time I was hurt because I knew I did so well. After awhile I got over it.”

So does Slaughter still consider the NBA a final destination?

“It’s always a thought in my head. If the offer was there and it was good, I would definitely go back — of course, that’s easy. But it doesn’t affect me that I am not there,” said Slaughter, who split the past two seasons between France and Spain.

“I couldn’t just go somewhere and sit the bench. It would have to be the right place and the right fit.”

After playing for eight different teams over the past six years, Slaughter is on his second go-round in Germany after signing a one-year contract last summer with Bamberg, the two-time defending Beko BBL champions who also competed this season in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague.